


Bite Me

by Hoshithemochi



Category: Big Bang (Band), GOT7, Hannibal (TV), SEVENTEEN (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Attempted Murder, Based off the Hannibal TV series, Cannibalism, Forensics, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hannibal is making Cannibal puns, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Mingyu as Hannibal, Multi, Murder, Murder Husbands, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, Suicide, This fanfic is gonna be a mess, Woozi as Will Graham, Woozi is just a smol mentally unstable bby, eventually, forensic science
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-23 06:32:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17678276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoshithemochi/pseuds/Hoshithemochi
Summary: [JiGyu Hannibal AU] [No prior knowledge of Hannibal is required to read this]•⚠️heavy dark and violent themes will be present in this, along with mental disorders⚠️•FBI profiler Lee Jihoon is recruited by Choi Seungcheol, the head of Behavioral Sciences, to help investigate a serial killer in Minnesota. With the investigation weighing heavily on Lee, when it begins altering his mental state and stability, Choi decides to have him supervised by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Kim Mingyu.





	1. Chapter 1

**Woozi PoV**

𝔽 ** _._** 𝔹 ** _._** 𝕀𝔸𝕔𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕪 ** _,_** ** _ℚ_** 𝕦𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕠 ** _,_** 𝕍𝕚𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕒

"Think about killing Mrs. Marlow. What did she do to deserve this?" I motioned vaguely up at the image displayed on the projector screen of a woman with her throat cut open. The trainees amongst the class looked like they were struggling a bit with the question, so I did my best to clarify.

"That's your assignment for tonight- tell me your design. Put yourself in the shoes of her killer and tell me your design."

I start packing away my things as I dismiss the class, but I pause when I see... _hell, what was his name again?_ He certainly looked familiar but I couldn't place his name. Fluffy hair, plush lips, a strong jawline... I mentally cursed myself for not remembering his name.

"Mr. Lee!" I keep my head down out of habit until he approaches me. "Special agent Choi Seungcheol, I head the Behavioral Science Unit." He held his hand out with a warm smile and I shook his back without looking up. Maybe if I act cold enough he'll go away.

"We've met." I murmured and he seemed surprised that I remembered.

"Yes, we had a disagreement when we opened the museum."

"I _disagreed_ with what you named it."

"The Evil Minds Research Museum."

I grimaced at the name and finally looked up at him. "It's a little hammy, Seungcheol."

He paused and looked around my classroom, seems to have something on his mind. "I see you've hitched your horse to a teaching post." He paused again and gave me a calculating look. "I also understand that it's difficult for you to be... social."

I let my usual, long-suffering sigh ebb into my words. "Well, I'm just talking _at_ them, I'm not listening to them, it's... it's not social."

"I see... may I?" He drew up his hand to fix my glasses before waiting for an actual response, and I froze up. My eyes tried to flutter closed, but I forced them to stay open while I avoided eye contact. "Where do you fall on the spectrum?"

_Where do I fall on the spectrum- I fucking hate that question._ "My... _horse_ is hitched to a post closer to Asperger's and autistics than narcissists and sociopaths..." I keep my eyes trained on a spot near his shoulder as he continues to analyze me.

"Yes, But you can empathize with narcissists and sociopaths-"

"I can empathize with anyone, it's less of a personality disorder than an active imagination." I couldn't keep the mild irritation out of my voice as I explained. I froze again as he leaned across my desk to get a better look at me- except now he just looks curious.

"Can I... _borrow_ your imagination?"  
•  
•  
•  
"Eight girls abducted from eight different Minnesota campuses, all in the last eight months."

"I thought there were seven?" I gave him a curious look as I walked through the campus with Seungcheol to his office. "When did you tag the eighth?"

"About three minutes before I walked into your lecture hall."

I nodded slightly and turned the information over in my head. "You're calling them abductions because you don't have any bodies?"

"No bodies, no parts of bodies, nothing that comes out of bodies- we have nothing."

I hummed and tilted my head. "Then those girls weren't taken from where you think they were taken."

"Where were they taken from then?"

I shrugged nonchalantly and walked past him into his office. "I don't know. Some place else."

I could hear Seungcheol sigh as he opened the door to his office. "They were all taken on Fridays, so that they wouldn't be reported missing until Monday- whatever he's doing, he needs the weekend to cover it up."

I nodded passively and walked to the corkboard behind his desk, scanning over the information on it. Photos of girls were pinned up in a line, the locations of their 'disappearances' pinned next to them. Seuncheol plucks a photo of a girl with deep brown hair and bright eyes, and he hands it to me.

"Number eight?" I look down at the photo and examine it carefully while comparing it to the other photos.

"Elise Nichols. Saint Cloud State on the Mississippi, disappeared on Friday. She was supposed to house-sit for her parents over the weekend, feed the cat- she never made it home."

I look back down at the photo in my hands and mumble, "The other seven are dead, don't you think? He's not keeping them around... got himself a new one."

Seungcheol nods as I look back up at the cork board. "So we focus on Nichols" I ignore him temporarily in favor of completing the pattern evident in the photos.

"They're all very... Mall of America." I pin the photo back to the board and take a step back.

"Same hair color, same eye color, all around the same weight, same height- these girls are almost identical. So, what is it about these girls?"

My brain supplies me with the logical answer, but given the slightly surprised look on Seungcheol's face, it must not have come so easily to others. "It's... it's not about _all_ of these girls, it's about _one_ of them." I pause to look over the photos again and give out a humorless chuckle. "He's like Willy Wonka. Every girl he takes is a chocolate bar and he's looking for his golden ticket. He's looking for his one, _true_ victim, and- if we follow our metaphor- that's his golden ticket."

"So... how do we know which girl is the golden ticket?"

"Well, it's not gonna be the first girl, and it certainly won't be the last, he'd want to hide how special she is... That's what I would do- wouldn't you?" I can't help but chuckle on the inside as he gives me a mildly concerned look at my last statement. I turn to grab my bag and leave but pause in the doorway at the sound of his voice.

"I want you to get closer to this."

_No. Fuck. No._

"No, no, no, you have Park at Harvard and Kwon at Georgetown, they do the exact same thing I do."

"Now that's not true, is it?" He gave me a look that a mother would give to scold her child, and I couldn't help the flash of irritation in my eyes. "You have a very specific way of thinking about things."

I couldn't hold back a scoff. "There's been a lot of talk about my, uh, _specific way_ of thinking about things."

"Jihoon, you make jumps you can't explain-"

"No, the evidence explains."

He gives me a slightly... pleading? look and I return it with a level one. "Then help me find some evidence."

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. "That may require me to be sociable..."

 


	2. Empathy

𝔻𝕦𝕝𝕦𝕥𝕙 ** _,_** 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕥𝕒

I vaguely register the voice of Elise Nichol's father as I look over the photos in the home. He's desperate, it's clear in his voice, he's rambling about how she liked to adventure, how she didn't like to stay in one place- he's desperate for any explanation other than her death, even though deep down he knows she's dead.

The mother is more practical; "She... she looks like the other girls?" She seems to be more at terms with the idea that her daughter is dead.

"Yes, she fits the profile." I hear Seungcheol's voice waver in sympathy; I just continue examining the photos. Something seems off about the idea of her not making it home...

"Is... is there any- any chance at _all_ \- that Elise could still be alive?" The father's desperate tone had been replaced with one of quiet brokenness. Everyone in the room knows the answer, Seungcheol's hesitation before answering was as good as a no.

"We simply have no way of knowing-"

"How's the cat?"

I turn on my heel to face the other three in the room, the mother and father clearly shaken by the sudden drive away from their emotions, and I could almost hear Seungcheol's internal groan. I warned him I wasn't good with people.

"W-What?"

"How is your cat? Was it weird when you came home? It must've been hungry, it didn't eat all weekend."

The dad makes an exasperated glance around the room, and I'm too used to it to really be offended by it. "I-I didn't notice."

Seungcheol gives me a pointed look and I _almost_ feel sorry. "Lee. A word?" He leads me off down the hallway and gives me another look that's screaming for an explanation. I sigh and run my hand through my hair, gathering my thoughts.

"He took her from here. She came home, fed the cat, went to bed... he took her from here."

Seungcheol sighs in the way he usually does and pulls out his phone, quickly dialing the number for his investigative unit and presses his phone against his ear. "The Nichol's house is officially a crime scene. I want ERT immediately; I want Boo, Chwe, and... Yoon Jeonghan. ... yes, and a photographer."

I watch as the father becomes borderline aggressive- like a panicked pig who can't a find a way out of it's pen. "Why is it now a crime scene?"

I ignore the anger and focus on the work at hand. "May I see your daughter's room?"  
•  
Upstairs I see the cat pawing at the door, but it pauses and runs up to me when it sees me, peering up and tilting it's head. The father moves to open the door and I stop his hands immediately. "It would be best if you don't touch anything."

"Me and my wife have been in and out of here all day!"

"You... May hold the cat. If it makes you feel better."

I push past him and open the door, my eyes widening minutely when I see the bed.

Elise is laying there, tucked in gently, pale as snow; no signs of life are present.

"Elise..."

I spin around immediately and stop the father from rushing toward his daughter's body. "You need. To leave. Now." I keep my voice low and as gentle as can be as I escort him out and call for Seungcheol.  
•  
•  
"When you're ready to talk, talk. We'll be downstairs."

Seungcheol leaves me alone with Elise Nichol's body and I lean against the wall, waiting for my... I'm still not sure what to call it. What do you even call something that allows you to project being in the body of someone's killer? Many people call it my 'empathetic sight'; I just think it's something that gives me nightmares.

I subconsciously hear an ambient pulse resonate through my skull and my vision turns to have a gold tint. I watch as the crime scene works itself apart. First her body moves to a normal sleeping pattern instead of the stiff one she had been placed in post-mortem. Then the puncture wounds scattered amongst her body disappear. I feel different... I feel powerful.

I feel _dangerous_.

I stare down idly at her sleeping form as my brain's 'vision' pieces together the scene.

_I jump on her and use my weight as I straddle her to pin her down. I wrap my hands around her throat and squeeze tightly, waiting for her eyes to dull as I choke her out. This is my design. This is my design._

_This is my design, this is my design, this-_

"You're Lee Jihoon, aren't you?"

I'm snapped out of my vision by a voice and I visibly startle. I look up to see a tall man- then again, everyone is tall in comparison to my 5'5" self- with round features and bright, curious eyes blinking down at me. I'm panting and my hands won't stop shaking and I fucking hate it because I look _weak_.

"Y-You're... you're not supposed to be in here..."

He avoids the comment like the plague and walks closer to me. He looks... amazed? As he looks at me. Not exactly a look I'm used to receiving. "You wrote the standard monograph on time of death by insect activity." He sounds completely in awe and the more he talks, the more his eyes light up. I nod slightly, hoping he'd just _stop_ but he keeps going. He motions toward the puncture wounds on the victim's body. "I found antler velvet in two of the wounds..." he pauses in curiosity when he sees my lack of a badge. "You, uh... you not real FBI?"

"I'm a special investigator..." I feel the shaken feeling from being torn out of my vision so suddenly being replaced with the throbbing headache, and that's almost worse.

"You've _never_ been a real FBI agent?" He looks so surprised, it reminds me of an innocent deer caught in the road.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts and maybe my headache. "Strict screening procedures..."

"Detect instability... you unstable, Lee?" He has a curious smirk on his face that disappears the second he hears Seungcheol walk into the room.

"You know you're not supposed to be in here." Seungcheol is followed by two men who seem to be avoiding my eyes at all costs. Not that I'm complaining. One has dark brown hair and high cheek bones- his eyes look awfully American while the rest looks surprisingly Asian, which leads me to believe the boy is a fair mix. He looks awfully young to be working in a crime scene like this however. He looks like he should still be in the academy. The other was fairly older looking with long red-dyed hair, and he had sharp androgynous features.

"There was antler velvet in one the wounds and I wanted to check for more."

"No, no, she couldn't have been gored." The black haired one spoke up and took a step toward Elise's body, waving a hand over her. "Elk don't impale their victims, they crush them- put all their body weight on them to crush them and suffocate them."

Seungcheol scratched the back of his neck. "She has broken and fractured ribs, and heavy bruising on her neck that implies strangulation."

"Antler velvet is rich in nutrients, it actually promotes healing. He could've put it there on purpose." I felt everyone's eyes on me and I immediately looked down, avoiding their gazes enough. I was small enough, I didn't need their eyes making me feel smaller.

"You think he was trying to _heal_ her?" Seungcheol gave me a slightly incredulous look.

"He wanted to... _undo_ as much as he could... given he had already killed her."

"He put her back where he found her..." Seungcheol swept his gaze back over the body, clearly running everything over in his head.

"Whatever he did to the others, he couldn't do it to her."

He threw his gaze back on me slowly. "Is this his golden ticket?"

"No. This is an apology."

 


	3. Winston

𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕗𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕡 ** _,_** 𝕍𝕚𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕒

I sighed and rolled my shoulders as I drove home. Today had been exhausting- it was the most socializing I'd had to do in a while.

I hated it.

My lights caught on a flash of gold on the road and I slowed my car down. A dirty golden Labrador with a rope around its throat was trotting beside my car curiously. I parked on the side of the road and opened my door, swinging my legs out and whistling for the dog. The poor thing had clearly been abandoned and I could tell it was hungry. It looked at me curiously before padding a few feet away and sitting down. He gave me a pensive look and I sighed before hauling myself out of my car and walking around to the back.

I sat on the back edge of the trunk after opening it and whistled again. It inched toward me a bit more and whines, wanting to come toward me but still being cautious. I reached into the back of my car where I kept dog treats and held one out, smiling softly when it eagerly approached me and lapped up the treat.  
•  
•  
•  
After taking the poor thing home and feeding it, washing it, and settling it in a carrier a set it out on the porch.

"Winston, this is everybody... Everybody, this is Winston."

I watched with a soft smile as my other seven dogs crept toward the cage and sniffed about it.

I love my dogs more than I love myself.

And I'm okay with that.

 


	4. Dreaming

_My eyes fluttered open as my vision became slightly blurry. I couldn't breathe, but it didn't hurt. Everything around me was black. I could only move my head, and the rest of me was frozen in a hellish kind of terror- I didn't know what I was afraid of, but I was certainly scared of something. I slowly turned my head to the right and tried to scream, but I couldn't make a noise._

_All I could do is stare in horror at the corpse of Elise Nichol's laying next to me in my bed, tucked in in the exact same manner she had been at the crime scene. Well, except for the fact that her torso was completely soaked in blood now._

_I couldn't make a single sound, and all I could hear was a loud ringing mixed with static roaring through my skull. I reached for her hesitantly and I stopped as_ _the_ _body seemed to levitate upwards. Everything went black, I couldn't see my bed or myself anymore. I couldn't see, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, and my senses_ _were completely overtaken_ _by the loud screeching rattling my head. I felt like I was suffocating, like an elk had thrown_ _its_ _weight on me._

_I can't breathe, I_ _can't_ _breathe, I can't-_

I woke up with a start. I was drenched in sweat and my heart was beating rapidly in my chest to the point where I thought it would rip out of my chest. I felt like I had just died.  
•  
•  
•  
I held my face underneath the cool water from the faucet and let it wash over me. I lifted my head up shortly after and looked into the mirror of the investigative unit's bathroom. I watched the water run down my face, eyeing the way the red walls of the room make it appear as if blood was running down my face. I quickly wiped my face off as I noticed Seungcheol storm into the room.

"What are you doing in here?"

I gave him a flat look and let sarcasm work its way into my voice. "I enjoy the smell of urinal cake."

He visibly rolled his eyes and let his own sarcasm mix with his aggression. "Me too, we need to talk."

One of the agents walked into the bathroom and I winced when Seungcheol roared at him. "Use the ladies' room!" The agent visibly flinched and nodded quickly, backing out of the room at a rapid pace. Poor kid.

Seungcheol turned on me again and I couldn't figure out why the anger in his eyes was directed at me. "Do you trust my judgment, Jihoon?"

"Mhm, yes..."

"Good, because we will stand a better chance of catching this guy with you in the saddle."

Oh. He's mad because I don't magically have the answer for everything. "I'm in the saddle, Cheol. I'm just... confused which direction I'm pointing." He gave me a look that let me know I needed to elaborate.

"I don't know this kind of psychopath. I've _never_ read about him- I don't even know if he's a psychopath. He's not insensitive, he's not shallow-"

"You know something about him; otherwise you wouldn't have said this is an apology! What is he apologizing for?"

He was being so aggressive and my chest hurt and my hands were shaking- I needed to be somewhere quiet. "I-I don't know! H-He..." I paused and took a deep breath, doing my best to best to settle my shaky hands. "He couldn't _honor_ her... he feels bad."

Seungcheol didn't seem too pleased with my answer. "Well, feeling bad defeats the purpose of being a psychopath, doesn't it?"

"Y-Yes it does." I hated the fact that my shakiness had worked it's way into my voice, and my breathing was as shallow as it had been after I woke up from my dream. I visibly flinched when he barked out at me.

"Then what kind of crazy is he?!"

I took shaky breaths and kept quiet for a minute, trying to ease my brain, and my heart; both were going a mile a minute. "He couldn't... _show_ her he loved her, so he put her corpse back where he killed it, whatever crazy that is."

"You think he _loves_ these girls?"

I couldn't stand that he was talking to me like I didn't know what I was talking about.

I pressed my hand against my forehead, given up on trying to fight my shakiness and my rapidly growing headache. "He loves one of them. A-And, yes, I think by association, he has _some_ form of love for the others."

Seungcheol sounded even more pissed off then he did when he first walked in- his words were harshly clipped, and he sounded patronizing. "There was no semen, there was no saliva, Elise Nichols died a virgin, she stays that way."

I snapped. "That's not how he's loving them, he wouldn't disrespect them that way! He doesn't want these girls to suffer, he kills them quickly and-... to his thinking, with _mercy_..."

Seungcheol nodded and looked away, and it was obvious he knew he had pushed me too far. "He's a sensitive psychopath. Risked getting caught, so he could tuck Elise Nichols back into bed."

I nodded quickly. "He has to take the next girl soon... 'cause he _knows_ he's gonna get caught. One way or the other."  
•  
•  
•  
Seungcheol rolled his shoulders as he walked down the courtyard of the academy with his colleague- Kwon Soonyoung.

"Lee likes you. Doesn't think you'll run any mind games on him."

Soonyoung shrugged and smiled a bit as he smoothed out his shirt. "I don't. I'm as honest with him as I'd be with a patient." Seungcheol cast his gaze to the therapist and cocked a brow.

"You've been observing him while you've been guest lecturing here at the academy, yes?"

Soonyoung sighed and looked away almost guiltily. "I've never been in a room alone with Jihoon."

"Why not?"

"Because I want to be his friend, and I am."

Seungcheol made a slight agreeing noise and nodded. "Ah, it seems a shame not to take advantage- academically speaking."

Soonyoung stopped walking, turned to face Seungcheol and gave him a borderline offended look. "You already asked me to do a study on him and I said no. Anything scholarly on Lee Jihoon would have to be published posthumously."

Seungcheol gave him a level and doubtful gaze. "So, you've never been alone with him because you have a _professional_ curiosity."

The therapist paused and rolled his eyes, letting out a bitter chuckle. "Normally I wouldn't even broach this, but what do you think on of Jihoon's strongest drives is?"

Seungcheol crossed his arms and thought for a second. "Fear,"

"Mhm."

"Lee Jihoon deals with huge amounts of fear... comes with his imagination."

Soonyoung nodded quickly like a teacher who's student said the correct answer. "It's the _price_ of imagination."

"Soonyoung, I wouldn't put him out there if I didn't think I could cover him."

Soonyoung gave him the same doubtful look he had received earlier.

"Okay, if I couldn't cover him 80%."

"I wouldn't put him out there!"

Seungcheol cooled the anger flooding his veins. "Well, he's out there. I _need_ him out there. Should he get too close, I need you to make sure he's not out there alone."

"Don't let him get too close." Soonyoung knew this is a bad idea, and it made his blood boil that he was more than likely going to have to watch his mental state crumble because of the officer before him.

"He won't... 'get to close'."

Soonyoung let out a sharp scoff before turning and walking away to the lecture halls, leaving Seungcheol behind him.

 


	5. Lion

I stood by the examination table and watched the forensic specialists unzip Elise's corpse from a body bag. I had now learned each of their names- courtesy of the soft looking on introducing me to them. The one that had recognized me in the house earlier is Boo Seungkwan, the young one is Chwe Hansol, and the long-haired one is Yoon Jeonghan. Jeonghan sighed as he flicked his eyes between the body and the computer screen beside him.

"Okay... tried her skin for prints, there's nothing, be we did get a hand spread off her neck."

Seungkwan tilted his head as he looked at Jeonghan. "Reports say anything about nails?"

"Fingernails were smudged when we took the scrapings, but the scrapings were from her own palms when she scratched them. She never scratched him," Hansol explained quickly, gesturing to the victim's hands.

Seungkwan groaned and ran his hands through his hair. "Great. So a piece of metal is all we got."

"We should be looking at plumbers, steamfitters, tool workers..." The room went quiet after I said that and I internally rolled my eyes. It seemed like Seungkwan was the only one who actually _wanted_ me there. The other two either thought I was crazy, or they hated that I was smarter than them.

It was probably a mix of both.

I stared off into the black area that a cut open part of her had made. I saw the same thing I had seen last night, except now she was floating upright, and I broke out in a cold sweat when antlers quickly sprouted from multiple parts of her body. I was snapped out of the hallucination by Jeonghan's voice. "Jihoon? You alright?"

I nodded quickly and gestured for him to continue as I calmed my heart. "Uh... all other injuries were most likely made post-mortem. So... not gored." Hansol cut off Jeonghan as he gave Seungkwan a 'told you so' look. I don't like Hansol too much, he's too cocky. Seungkwan narrowed his eyes slightly and squared his shoulders as he looked up at Hansol.

"She has piercings that look like they were caused by antlers, I never said that the deer _put_ them there."

"She was mounted on them." The three of them looked up at me with different expressions. Seungkwan looked in awe, Hansol looked pissed I had figured something out before him, and Jeonghan just looked curious. I avoided their eyes as I continued. "The antlers were treated like hooks... she may have been bled..."

"Her liver was removed." Jeonghan spread open one of the cuts on her side with fragile fingers as he peeked into the wound. "So he removed it and... yup, he put it back in." He pulled away and looked at the body quizzically. "That doesn't make any sense though, why would he take the time to cut it out if he was just gonna throw it back in?"

"There was something wrong with the meat." They all looked at me again, and all I could do was stare at the laceration on her torso.

Hansol was the first to speak up. "She has liver cancer."

I nodded in agreement and struggled to get my words out. "H-He's, um... he's eating them."

-

-

-

𝔹𝕒𝕝𝕥𝕚𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 ** _,_** 𝕄𝕒𝕣𝕪𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕

"P-Please," the psychiatrist's patient murmured out as he reached toward the kleenexes on the glass table. The psychiatrist handed them to him and fought back a grimace when the patient left his snotty used ones on the table. "I hate being this neurotic..."

The doctor stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "If you weren't neurotic, Joshua, you would be something _much_ worse. Our brain is designed to experience anxiety in short bursts, not constantly like your brain seems to enjoy."

Joshua looked down and fiddled with his fingers, desperately trying to keep his mind from running a mile minute. It's what comes with anxiety- you're always wondering if people mean what they say. The doctor continued; "It's why you feel as if a lion is always in the room, on the verge of devouring you."

Joshua ducked his head down even lower as his shoulders started to shake with more sobs. "Joshua."

"Yes?"

"You need to convince yourself that the lion is not in the room. When it is I assure you- you will know."

 


	6. Dr. Kim Mingyu

"Joshua, I will see you next week." the psychiatrist dismisses his patient quickly as he looks to the man standing before him- in my private exit for his patients.

"Dr. Kim Mingyu-"

"This is a private exit for my patients." They both notice Joshua scuttle away and Seungcheol almost looks sheepish.

"I'm sorry doctor, I'm special agent Choi Seungcheol from the behavioral science unit; may I come in?"

"You may wait in the proper waiting room, Agent Choi." Mingyu gestures towards the entrance to the waiting room before promptly shutting his door.

-

-

-

"You may come in now."

Seungcheol looks up to see Mingyu with a small smile on his face as the doctor opens the door. As he walks in, he shakes Mingyu's hand and returns the warm smile he had received from the doctor.

"So... may I ask how this is all about me?" Mingyu asks as he closes the door behind him.

"You can, but you might have to answer some questions first." Seungcheol lets out a small chuckle as he lets his eyes wander around the room. Mingyu just nods in response. "Are you expecting another patient?"

"No, we're all alone."

"Good... Jesus, are these yours??" Seungcheol stares in awe as he admires the beautifully drawn pictures on Mingyu's desk.

"Among the first; this one is a drawing of my school in Paris when I was a boy." Mingyu smiled and pointed at the first drawing, pride etched into his voice and his features.

"These are remarkable... very detailed."

"I learned early on that a scalpel cuts a finer point than any pencil sharpener."

"Well... now I certainly know why your drawings earned you an internship at John Hopkins."

Mingyu narrowed his eyes minutely as Seungcheol backed up and out of his vision. "I'm beginning to get the feeling you're interrogating me, Agent Choi. Seungcheol couldn't help the bark of laughter that came from deep in his chest.

"No, no- you were referred to me by Kwon Soonyoung." A smile appeared fully on Mingyu's face at the mention of the squishy boy.

"Ah, yes, he studied under me for a while at John Hopkins; typically psychology departments are full of personality deficients, but Soonyoung is quite the exception."

Seungcheol chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. "Yes, he is... He showed me your paper... uh, "Evolutionary Origins of social exclusion"; is that right?" Mingyu nodded, the small, prideful smile returning to his face. "Interesting, very interesting, even to a layman like me."

"You're the head of the behavioral science unit and you consider yourself a layman?"

"I do when I'm in your presence, Doctor. Um... I need to you to a psychological profile on someone for me."

"And who might that be?" Mingyu tilted his head ever so slightly, the spark of curiosity bright in his eyes.

"Special Agent Lee Jihoon."

 


	7. Psychoanalyze

**𝔽** **_._ ** **𝔹** **_._ ** **𝕀** **𝔸𝕔𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕪** **_,_ ** **_ℚ_ ** **𝕦𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕠** **_,_ ** **𝕍𝕚𝕣𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕒**

"Tell me, how many confessions?" I heard Mingyu say as he analyzed the cork board in Seungcheol's office. I had to say, I'm not overly fond of this doctor- I don't know what it is, something about him just rubs me the wrong way. But maybe that's just how I feel about most people I meet.

"Twelve dozen, last time I checked, but none of them had any details- until this morning." Seungcheol sighed and plopped in his desk chair when Mingyu gave him a questioning look. "Some genius in Duluth PD, took a photo of Elise Nichols' body, shared with his friends, and then Jessica Ho posted it on Tattlecrime.net."

"Tasteless." I murmured as I stared at a spot on Seungcehol's desk, idly running everything over in my head.

"Do you have issues with taste, Jihoon?" Mingyu asked as he took the seat next to mine in front of Seungcheol's desk.

"My thoughts are often not... tasty."

"Nor mine. No effective barriers."

"I build forts."

"Associations come quickly."

"So do forts, doctor." I downed half of my coffee in one go, not appreciating the way he was talking to me. It's like he was analyzing me... No, Seungcheol wouldn't have someone analyze me without my permission.

...Right?

He gave me a quizzical look and chuckled when I avoided his eyes. "Not a fan of eye contact?"

I can't stop irritation from lacing itself into my words, making them short and clipped. I just wanna finish this damn case. "Eyes are distracting; you see too much, you don't see enough... And-And, it's hard to focus when you're thinking, 'are those whites really white?' or, 'He must have hepatitis' or, 'Ooh, is that a burst vein?'. So, yeah. I tend to avoid eyes whenever possible." I turn away from him and flip through the case file again, just needing to do something with my hands; and as a distraction from that damn smirk on Mingyu's face. "Seuncheol?"

"Yes?"

Mingyu cut me off before I could even open my mouth. "I imagine what you see and learn touches every corner of your mind. Your values and decency are present, yet shocked at your associations... appalled at your dreams. No forts in the bone arena of your skull for the things you love."

That's when it finally clicked. "Whose profile are you working on...?" I couldn't stop the betrayal digging into my voice as I turned on Seungcheol. "Whose profile is he working on?"

"I'm sorry Jihoon, observing is what we do. I can't shut mine off any more than you can shut yours off." Mingyu shrugged and took a sip of his coffee like he hadn't just dug into my mind. I wanted to punch him. I gave him a level look and growled out my next words.

"Don't psychoanalyze me. You won't like me when I'm psychoanalyzed." I quickly grabbed my stuff and stood, rolling my eyes when Seungcheol told me to sit down. "If you'll excuse me I have a lecture to give... on psychoanalyzing." I turned on my heel and began making my way to the lecture hall, trying to forget about the doctor.

I just couldn't seem to get him and his damn smirk out of my head.  
•  
•  
•  
"Maybe we shouldn't poke him like that, doctor." Seungcheol sighed out as he pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing that had played out in literally any other way. "Perhaps we should try a less... direct approach."

Mingyu leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, quickly figuring out the best way to word this to Seungcheol. "What Jihoon has is pure empathy. He can assume anyone's point of view, no matter who they are; he could see mine, yours, a stranger on the street's. It's dangerous, and it plagues his thoughts. It's an uncomfortable gift, Seungcheol. Perception is a tool that is pointed on both ends." Mingyu took a deep breath as he turned back to the cork board, a small smile forming on his face. "This... cannibal, you're having him get to know... I think I can help good Jihoon see his face."

 


End file.
